Sentenced to make carnival costumes: Criminals get so-called 'tough' alternative to jail

Burglars and robbers are learning costume-making and working in charity shops instead of being sent to prison, a damning report reveals today.

The punishments are part of supposedly rigorous community service programmes.

But within a year of completing such schemes, criminals had committed a further 250,000 offences, raising major doubts about their effectiveness.

Doing party time: Some criminals make carnival costumes

BLAME IT ON THE GENES

Criminal behaviour is in the genes, a study claims. Researchers looked at more than 250 adopted children in high school and followed their progress for 13 years. When they reached their mid-20s and early-30s, they were asked if they or their natural parents had any sort of criminal record.

Those with a biological parent who had been arrested were up to 4.5 times more likely to have been arrested themselves, the Florida State University study found. A jailed biological parent dramatically raised the risk of the child having spent time in prison or a young offenders institution.

And the more times the biological parent was in trouble with the law,
the more problematic the child was, the journal Biological ­Psychiatry
reports.
Some genes are known to increase a predisposition to violence. One,
called MAO-A, makes an enzyme which breaks down brain chemicals linked
to aggression. Rogue versions of MAO-A have been found to have the
strongest effect when paired with a troubled upbringing.

The report found convicts working with animals on farms or serving lunch at old people’s clubs. Others were found making costumes for the Notting Hill Carnival, filling envelopes or sorting jewellery.

The report, by the centre-right think-tank Policy Exchange, charts a 70 per cent rise in community punishments in the last decade under Labour. Such is the scale of the growth that within four years more serious and violent criminals will be given community terms than will be put behind bars, it predicts.

Just half of all community orders are completed, and one in ten are cut short because of a further conviction. Figures suggest criminals placed on community orders in 2008 committed almost a quarter of a million offences in the following 12 months.

Of these, 1,500 were serious crimes such as murder and rape.
Campaigners for community punishments claim they are more effective than
short prison terms at stopping offenders returning to crime.

But official figures show 39.5 per cent of criminals given community
orders re-offend.

The Policy Exchange report calls for intensive, U.S.-style ‘work orders’
in which offenders would clean police cars, clear graffiti, tidy
motorway and railway verges or help restore war memorials.

Author Dr Robert Kaye adds: ‘These sentences fail because they are fundamentally flawed, poorly administered and confused in their purpose. There is no contradiction between being “tough” and being “effective”.’ Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke wants to send thousands fewer offenders to jail.

Under changes to be announced within weeks, 50,000 are likely to be handed new community terms involving long hours of work, a tag and a strict curfew.

Commissioner for Victims Louise Casey said: ‘It is imperative that community sentences are given the radical overhaul this report outlines.’

The Ministry of Justice said: ‘We will set out proposals to reform the system and ensure consistent standards of community sentence, with robust supervision, appropriate punishment and meaningful work.’